Living Legacy
by KrimzonGuard Bites BaronP
Summary: What is a man but the stories he leaves behind? What is a man's legacy but the people's lives he's touched? -One shot. Post ISS Good ending. Spoilers.


**A/N: Hi guys. C: Here's another one-shot I decided to write after playing the Cole's legacy DLC for ISS. Hope you like it!**

**A word of warning though, it does contain spoilers for the ending of ISS! So if you haven't beaten the good ending/Cole's legacy, you're ruining it for yourself!**

* * *

The streets of Seattle were quiet, the sun high in the sky but the day gloomy and gray thanks to the thick blanket of clouds resting heavily over the oppressed city. Rain was nothing new to the city that saw more clouds than sunlight in a single year, the people going about their business of doing whatever they could to stay sane while the world seemed to fall apart around them.

Somewhere in the northern end of Seattle however, things weren't quiet. People ran in terror, or stood gawking in amazement at the display before them. Inhuman feats pitted against the seemingly neanderthal firearms that did little to discourage the man with the red beanie. His name was Delsin Rowe and the whole city knew it.

Delsin had received new intel from Eugene and Fetch that a new shipment of narcotics was already making its way onto the streets and that was simply no good. Naturally this infuriated Fetch, while Eugene was able to use his superior computer skills to locate the information necessary to hunt down the men(or perhaps women) responsible. The intel had led them to the original drop off point, a dock on the west side of town while the distributors used the drainage system to move the drugs in secret.

However Delsin was now assaulting one of the major storage points, a dilapidated store front that had previously been abandoned by order of the DUP and boarded up. Another salvo of digital rockets slammed into the floor at the feet of two armed gunman, detonating with the force of a small brick of C-4. They had been the last of the meat shields throwing themselves uselessly at the superhuman and now there were no more to protect the stash.

From his perch Delsin could see the battlefield, fifteen bodies in total. Some lay unconscious, wounded but alive while others writhed in the ground in pain as digital artifacts flitted about from scorch marks. With a smirk of superiority, Delsin stood tall, the hem of his vest catching a breeze as he jumped from the roof of the five story building he'd used as cover since assaulting the security force. As stories became mere feet before impact, two blue digital wings sprang up from his back, flapping twice to soften his fall as he landed gracefully before a crowd of curious bystanders who cheered and celebrated yet another victory of Seattle's Angel.

_'I was an angel before it was cool'_. Eugene quipped over Delsin's blue-tooth headset. The tribesman only smiled his charming smile and waved to the crowd.

"Yeah, but you've gotta admit. I make it look good..."

_'Eugene, honey, don't mind him. All that fame's just gone to his fat head.'_ Fetch replied, but Delsin could hear the smile in her voice.

"Love you too Fetch. Anyways, time to clean up the trash." With that, Delsin went to work subduing each of the fifteen gunman, calling forth salvos of great swords to anchor them to the ground until the proper authorities could arrest the men in question, some of whom were no doubt persons of interest in various investigations by the Seattle PD. Now all that was left was to destroy the stockpiled drugs.

Delsin crossed the threshold into the abandoned store front. From the looks of things this had been a sports goods and memorabilia store that looked still ready for business. The shelves had been spared the wrath of looters, row after row of sporting items lined up for fans to browse. Along the back wall stood a large display dedicated to the greats of Baseball and Delsin couldn't help but think of Reggie while fighting a frown as sadness overwhelmed him. Reggie was gone, his last moments spent in darkness as he drowned, alone and afraid. He had made that bitch Augustine pay but it didn't make him feel better. It didn't bring Reggie back.

Suddenly a shelf of new footballs in boxes toppled over, making more than enough noise to bring Delsin crashing back to reality. He turned quickly to face the source and found himself staring face to face with a masked gunman. Their eyes met and the man threw his arms into the air, his AK dropping to the ground noisily.

"Smart move." Delsin chimed with another of his award winning grins, raising his arm then flinging it forward as a group of digital swords materialized with a flash and pinned the gunman against the far wall, suspended by his clothes some eighteen inches off the ground. From the looks of things the gunman had emerged from the back room of the store, no doubt where the distributors had been peddling their narcotics from.

It didn't take much searching before Delsin found the crates upon crates of drugs sitting pretty. "Man, would you look at this? Cocain, heroine, meth... I'm sending you some pictures, Eugene." Delsin took out his phone and snapped the requisite pictures, sending them via a secured feed to Eugene(who was adamant about securing their communication given how easy it was for them to hack the DUP's network).

A whistle came over Delsin's earpiece. '_That's a lot of blow man. A couple of years ago I would've gone comatose just looking at that.'_ Fetch commented.

_'By my estimation Delsin, you're looking at about 5.6 million dollars worth of narcotics. This will no doubt put a huge dent in Czalov's cartel earnings and make it easier for us to track distribution since users will be desperately looking for a fix.'_

"Aww. Cry me a river." Delsin teased, gathering an orb of digital energy in his right hand before tossing it like a grenade onto the narcotics. The pile became a blaze of blue digital fire that consumed it in a smokeless burn, turning the millions of dollars of drugs into a worthless pile of black smoldering plastic and dust. "Well my work here is done. I think I'm going to head back there for some shut-eye. Been a week since I slept last."

_'Rodger that. See you soon, Delsin.' _Eugene said, killing the VOIP connection between them. With the voices gone from his ear, Delsin made his way back outside to find the Seattle PD already making short work of prying up the gunman and hauling them into a prisoner transport. An officer turned and saw Delsin but before the man in blue could get a word out, he snapped his fingers and vanished with a flash as digital distortions cloaked his form.

He re-materialized a block away atop a roof before taking one last glance at the site of the drug bust, ready to make his way back to Eugene's lair for some much needed shuteye. At least, until his phone sprang to life with that familiar horror-film jingle. The number was blocked, but already Eugene's tracking app was hard at work cutting through the encryption to locate the caller. Delsin answered anyway.

"You've reached the Smoker's hotline. How may I direct your call?"

_'Delsin? Its me, Zeke. So hey, Listen. I know I said I wasn't going to meet up with you after you helped out with Wolfe. Thanks again for those notes, by the way- But I have something I want to give you. Can you meet me at McCooper's in an hour? Its a little pub down off 99 and 64__th.__'_

"I know the place. I'll see you there." And with that the call ended but rather than put his phone away. Delsin dialed Eugene and Fetch back to deliver the news. "Hey, I'll be a bit late getting back. Something came up."

_'We heard. Just be careful. There's still a lot of DUP presence between you and there.'_

"Wait, you've been listening in on my calls?"

_'….yes? I thought you knew.'_

"Sooooo... you know about the gir-"

_'The girl from two nights ago, the one with the nipple piercings? Yep.'_ Delsin felt his face turning red. He'd said some fairly.. choice words to the cute girl with the nipple rings over the phone before hooking up with her.

"..Right. Well, that's not creepy at all. Ohhh nooo, I'm going thro... nnel... losing... nnection... cant... you..." With a grin he ended the call and started off toward McCoopers. It'd take him the better part of half an hour to get across town, even with powers.

* * *

Back at the Lair, Fetch rolled her eyes and sauntered off to brew some coffee. "What a dick."

"Indeed." Eugene said half-heartedly as he reigned down hellfire on an unsuspecting demon in the latest expansion of Heaven's Hellfire.

* * *

With the sunset came some clarity as the humid day rolled into the cool evening hours. The clouds that had sat so heavy over Seattle since the early morning had finally dissipated, greeting a clear sky kissed with hues of orange, pink, violet and blue as the first faint signs of stars began to dot the horizon. The fog that had settled over the bay had been whisked away by a gentle breeze that rolled in from the north and the horn of a shipping freighter echoed out over the still water.

Delsin made good time as he took the express, opting to ride on the top of an 18-wheeler down 99. It meant he had time to kill. Maybe he'd get a drink before Zeke showed up and before long he was strolling down the quiet Seattle streets with his hands in his pockets, stepping into McCooper's open door much earlier than he'd intended.

The bar was mostly empty, save for a few regulars and a smiling gentleman behind the bar mixing a drink. Delsin approached the bar, about to order a beer when someone called his name. It was Zeke.

"Hey you're here early." Zeke said from his seat at the bar in the far corner, half hidden behind a wall of three empty beer bottles with a fourth one only a quarter empty.

"I could say the same about you, but counting the beers I'd say you've been here a while." Delsin said with a smile as Zeke rose from his seat, albeit a bit unsteady from the alcohol. The two shook hands and took their seats. "How long have you been here anyways?"

Zeke stared down at his empty bottles, hands idly spinning almost-full bottle with a distant look on his face. "Too long. Just.. needed to clear my head, I guess. I know its been seven years since all this craziness started happening but to me it feels like just yesterday."

"I take it you knew Cole?"

"Knew Cole? He was like a brother to me. We grew up together, spent time in jail together, and even fought the First Sons together. When he got his powers, his girl Trish and I nursed him back to health. I even helped him get a handle on his powers, much to Trish' dislike. Just.. so hard to believe he's really gone."

Delsin frowned as he listened to Zeke tell his story. The last images of Reggie's despairing face staring up at him flashed across Delsin's mind and he rubbed his forehead to try and chase the memories away. "I know how it feels to lose a brother."

"When I took him home to Empire to be laid to rest, I kept expecting him to just.. wake up and smile at me. In the end he was buried next to Trish. He would've wanted it that way. And now, after everything Cole did to save the world, not a damn bit of it seems to have mattered. The DUP's still stompin' around like a barn yard cock and people are more scared of Conduits now than they were seven years ago when Cole proved they weren't bad people."

Delsin was thoughtfully quiet until the silence was shattered by an unfamiliar voice. The bartender approached, a man in his early forties with balding salt and pepper hair and a slight gut. His face showed age but his smile and a glimmer of hope in his eyes betrayed the sad state of the world. "You're.. Delsin Rowe, right? Seattle's Angel? The name's Rick McCooper. Its an honor to meet you sir!" Delsin took the man's hand as he offered it, feeling a little overwhelmed by the strength of his hand shake.

"Nice place you got here, Mr. McCooper. Any chance I could get a drink.. Something with honey?" Delsin reached for his pocket, removing his wallet and fishing out a 20. Rick shook his head.

"Its on the house, Delsin. After all you saved my son." It was then that Delsin spotted the younger man standing behind Rick, practically a carbon cut out of his father, minus twenty years. "Kevin here was coming home from a trip to New Marais to visit his aunt when the DUP flagged him as a 'Bio-Terrorist' using some fancy scanner and threw him in some god-forsaken cage. If you hadn't broken that cage open, I might've never seen my boy again. And to think, my son, a super human!" Rick's face lit up with a huge grin as he wrapped a strong arm around the boy's wiry shoulders. "Maybe someday he'll be all juiced up like you and do this sad world some good." Kevin visibly retreated, but was grinning nonetheless. "But I digress. How bout that beer, on the house as promised. In fact, a round for everyone on the house in honor of Delsin Rowe!"

Naturally there was cheering as the pub patrons celebrated the city's hero, and free booze of course. Delsin could only smile as he took the freshly opened Samuel Adams Honey Porter and let the first swig of cool semi-sweet hoppy flavor wash down his throat. The noise died down, the bar returning to its normal quiet pace, only the laughter of men telling jokes occasionally breaking the quiet drone of conversation.

"Ya'know, I think I was wrong." Zeke finally said after a long silence.

"About?" Delsin said after another sip.

"About Cole being gone. Maybe he's still around, working his magic through people like you, people who can change the world and make it a better place. I mean look around. These people are happy, and I'm not talking happy because they're drinking. They're happy because of you. These people look at you the same way they used to look at Cole- With pride, hope, and the promise of a better Tomorrow. You're living proof that Conduits aren't evil, and that Humans and Conduits might actually be able to coexist. Hell six years ago gay marriage was against the law in most of the US. Before that it was segregation and before that, women's rights." Zeke tossed his head back, polishing off the remainder of his own beer, swishing it around in his mouth before savoring the cool smooth texture as he swallowed. "Oh right, I said I had something for you."

Zeke turned away briefly, leaning over and picking up a brown paper bag with hemp cord handles off the floor. He reached inside, pulling out the contents before discarding the bag entirely.

"I bought this for Cole the day he got his job as a Bike courier. He wore it nearly every day since."

Delsin marveled at the sleek black and yellow leather jacket, scuffed in areas and torn in others. The larger holes had been patched up professionally and the leather revitalized with a fresh dose of leather lotion and natural oils for water repellent. The natural musk of leather was rich and comforting. As Zeke handed it to him, all folded up into a neat bundle, he could practically feel the history behind it. Images of Cole flashed through his mind much the way they did when he absorbed another conduits' powers.

_The sky split angrily as lightning carved its way through the smokey air, crashing onto an awaiting Cole as his arms were flung to the side- nature pouring all of its fury into a single lasting bolt as it super charged the Demon of Empire City, all the while Cole screaming, challenging all who would dare to harm his great city and the people within._

Of course Delsin had heard of Cole MacGrath before meeting Zeke or Wolfe. He had heard ramblings from the DUP lackeys, in idle conversation on the street from the handful of believers that knew the truth, and from Eugene filling the Akomish hero in on the history of Conduits before his final battle with Augustine. Those that knew about Cole revered him, respected him, worshiped him. To the people that believed in him, he was the closest thing to a god there was, a selfless hero who was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the world from complete and total annihilation. Cole was the greatest of martyrs who died for a righteous cause.

"I've been holding onto that Jacket since he died, but now it feels right to pass it on to someone who can live up to his legacy. Go ahead, try it on. Its yours now Delsin."

Delsin slid from his seat, arching back and sliding off the denim vest he'd worn for so long(a gift from Reggie for his 19th birthday). Unfolding the jacket, it looked about his size- perhaps a bit larger. He slipped in one arm, then the other as he felt the leather seem to conform to him. Behind the bar was a floor to ceiling mirror, blocked mostly by various bottles of whiskey and scotch, but Delsin could see himself in an empty space. For good measure he went into his battle stance, conjuring up an orb of digital fire before letting it fade. The powerful gaze of The Saint of New Marais seemed to stare back at him as Cole smiled and faded until Delsin could only see himself in the old dusty mirror.

"..Mm.. anyways I think its time I get going. I've got to be up early for a meeting. It was a pleasure meeting you face to face Delsin." Zeke said as he slid from the leather bar stool and collected his own jacket. Then with another hand-shake, he made his way toward the door, but not before stopping and turning one last time to Delsin. "Cole would've been proud to have you as his living legacy."

And with that, Zeke Jedediah Dunbar disappeared into the night.

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**A/N: Hope you liked! Don't hesitate to review!**


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